If this is your first visit, be sure to
check out the FAQ by clicking the
link above. You may have to register
before you can post: click the register link above to proceed. To start viewing messages,
select the forum that you want to visit from the selection below.

I sent raw potatoes with DH yesterday. He said he would rather have raw. Then later after he ate some, he was complaining of not feeling so hot. I remember reading something about raw tators, but I can't remember now what. I might only eat a bite here and there raw with no ill effects.

Fed him hash browns for breakfast yesterday and today. Slowly but surely..... I have noticed he questions more now, and makes little minor grumpy comments now, now that I am trying to feed him healthier stuff, than when I use to just feed him crap. Why is that? Not just tators, but everything. Like bone broth. Liver. Too many onions. Dont feed me salad. Wah wah wah. He never use to do that when I fed him a steady diet of crap after crap covered and smothered and deep fried in more crap. uugggh

Comment

I sent raw potatoes with DH yesterday. He said he would rather have raw. Then later after he ate some, he was complaining of not feeling so hot. I remember reading something about raw tators, but I can't remember now what. I might only eat a bite here and there raw with no ill effects.

I remember reading a while back that raw potatoes could cause gastric upset so always shied away from them...however, I have found eating a few slices while cutting them up is no problem. I have never tried more than a few slices.

Comment

QUESTION: I grew up on a farm in Minnesota, and I always used to like eating raw potatoes like apples. I still like them better raw than cooked, with a little salt on them. My mother always said they were healthier that way. Was she right?

– RLL, via e-mail

ANSWER: Although not a common component in the American diet, the eating of raw potatoes has footing in some family traditions. There are some considerations and interesting science regarding eating them this way.

The potato plant produces a number of defensive (toxic) substances in the upper plant (leaves, stems and above-ground fruit), but they are not in the below-ground tubers, which are the “potatoes” we're familiar with. However, a potato (tuber) that's been injured, exposed to sunlight or stored for an extended period of time might begin to sprout or develop patches of green. The green is chlorophyll, produced by photosynthesis.

Chlorophyll is not toxic, but if photosynthesis has begun, it means that toxic alkaloids, such as solanine, will be also present. Green potatoes and especially potato sprouts, should never be eaten. Cooking does not deactivate these toxins.

The raw potato also contains antinutrients that act as enzyme (protease) inhibitors. This might be a consideration if you don't eat well and crunching on raw spuds is a regular part of your diet.

The August 2006 issue of the Journal of Food Science looked at three of the enzyme inhibitors found in raw potatoes and how they decreased during cooking. These substances tend to be in the peel, so you might consider removing the peel. You'll also lose some of the nutrients, but it's a reasonable trade.

Unlike cooked potatoes, some of the starch in raw potatoes is digested poorly. Called “resistant starch,” it passes through the small intestine into the large intestine, where it ends up being fermented by the flora that live there.

Similar to what happens when we eat legumes, this can result in increased fecal bulk, bloating and possibly some undesirable gastrointestinal effects. All this has a positive side in that the fermentation of resistant starches increases the production of butyrate, a fatty acid that is associated with favorable effects on diseases in the colon.

A study in the March 2009 issue of Gut reported how resistant starch had positive effects in colon cancer patients. Another benefit is that raw potatoes don't increase blood sugar like their cooked counterpart.

Interestingly, a study in the November 2005 issue of the European Journal of Clinical Nutrition reported that if you chill a cooked potato, you regain some of this effect. (In that study, they served the chilled potatoes with a vinegar dressing.)

The bottom line is that if you want to eat raw potatoes, aside from peeling them, look for fresh, unblemished, unsprouted potatoes with no hint of green. If you have a choice, opt for potatoes that are grown organically.

There is a complete list of potato nutrients at tinyurl.com/dyerf5. This list represents the nutrients in the raw potato. Cooked potatoes have less vitamin C, thiamine and riboflavin. When eating cooked potatoes, include the skin if you can.

Comment

So cooking taro is a bit more labor-intensive than cooking potatoes. Well, first, you have to clean it. The way I clean it is with a clean scouring pad. Not the shitty green kind that tends to break down and leave green fibrous residues on everything. Use a nice hardy scouring pad or a vegetable brush. Scrub the surface under warm runnign water until it's clean.

Once it's clean, you can steam or boil the roots with the skin on. The peel is easy to remove once it's cooked--way easier than trying to peel it raw. Taro is very hard when raw so it's extremely difficult to slice. Thus, you should cook it before slicing or cubing.

The first time I made taro, I peeled and cubed it while raw. It was nearly impossible so I ended up chopping it up in the food processor. Big mess and super annoying. Then I learned to just cook it whole and then peel/chop.

You can basically use taro the way you'd use potatoes--mash them, fry them, etc. I've never fried them before, but I have eaten fried taro at Thai restaurants--very yummy. I imagine that you would cook them before slicing and frying.

I often used them instead of potatoes in pot roasts, but I haven't made anything with taro since going primal. I may start eating them again, at least on my carb-up days.

Comment

Just out curiosity, is anybody doing a version of veggies plus lean protein (1 egg plus 10g whey protein) plus cold potato protocol? Or would that inhibit weight loss? The goal would be to try to limit the carbs to one meal, hence the need for other foods (I don't do well on IF--never lose weight). Thanks!

Comment

Reporting back! So after weighing the pro's and con's of the potato argument I decided to bite the bullet and give this a go (for the hell of it and lolz mostly). I ate cold potatos for 3 days + the occasional boiled egg. Over the course of 7 days I'm down 1.8kgs. I don't have a scale at home so it's a weekly weigh in at the gym for me.

I kept my metformin dose at the normal amount. I didn't track my blood sugar as I don't normally .. PCOS, not diabetic. My body is quick to tell me when I'm having an adverse blood sugar reaction however and I experienced none of that.

I discovered that firstly - I now hate the taste of white potato. I ate less than I normally would simply as a result which has made me realise I quite often eat more food than I need to. Also eating the potato diet makes me feel ketogenic in a way that a high fat, moderate protein and very low carb never did. I felt .... off. Like something essential was missing, my body was not a happy unit.

I'm back to salmon steak, BAS and a bowel of berries so far today. The lesson I've taken away from this is that the potato fast probably works ... but it's not for me and that more importantly - I just need to reduce my portions. So overall, I'd call the experiment a success.

Comment

After 1 day of post-holiday PPD, I've dropped 2.5 bloat lbs overnight. As a recap, I was 151 lbs on New Year's Eve, 155.5 the next morning (after a night of "progressive dinner party", which essentially meant three meals worth over about 7 hours, last one at 12:30 a.m.). Then that blasted bloat hung around for 2 more days, so that I started the PPD yesterday still at 155. This morning, I'm at 152.5. Peed like crazy yesterday. I had visited the washroom 4 times between 9 and noon yesterday morning.

Intake was redskin potatoes, boiled and mashed with bone broth and onion flakes for B and L and the same for supper with about 2 oz browned hamburger meat overtop. It was delicious, BTW. Then made microwave potato chips with one more medium sized russet in the evening. Imagine a diet that has me eating crispy potato chips in the evening and dropping 2.5 lbs of water weight at the same time!

Today is planned to be a repeat of yesterday. Hoping to see 151 again and then on into the 140's...

And my Christmas present Perfect Health Diet book arrived by UPS last evening, so I have some long-awaited reading to do. :-)

Comment

For some reason, this had me guffawing so loudly even the children ran in: "Mommy! What's so funny?"

Haha! Glad I could make you laugh.

I'm on the fourth day of potatoes, round 2, but my weight has not budged at all! I just started my period today, and that could be why. But I've never noticed any cyclical water retention before (not that I've looked for it). And it is really discouraging to eat potatoes for three days and not see the scale move.

The only other difference between this time and last time is that I've been eating horseradish mustard with some of my potatoes. The mustard is only 5 calories per teaspoon; it supposedly contains 0 g of carbs, protein, and fat, but that's impossible since those 5 calories must come from something. I haven't been measuring the amount of mustard I've been eating, but it's no more than 5 teaspoons per day. Could 25 calories of mustard cause this thing to not work???

Comment

I'm on the fourth day of potatoes, round 2, but my weight has not budged at all! I just started my period today, and that could be why. But I've never noticed any cyclical water retention before (not that I've looked for it). And it is really discouraging to eat potatoes for three days and not see the scale move.

The only other difference between this time and last time is that I've been eating horseradish mustard with some of my potatoes. The mustard is only 5 calories per teaspoon; it supposedly contains 0 g of carbs, protein, and fat, but that's impossible since those 5 calories must come from something. I haven't been measuring the amount of mustard I've been eating, but it's no more than 5 teaspoons per day. Could 25 calories of mustard cause this thing to not work???

I can't imagine that amount of mustard would have any effect. I'd think it has more to do with your 'feminine attributes'.

Comment

I just got MY lovely ladytime FOR THE SECOND TIME IN THIRTY FREAKING DAYS, and I am
up from 124 to 130 over night.

SERIOUSLY.

So I bet it's ladytime bloat for you as well... even if you're not used to getting it normally,
maybe I'm sending you some.

Julie

That was the one blessing of being fat. No Aunt Flo. There is no way that I could deal with that and being fat. No way. I am hoping that now that I am losing weight, but of a certain age, that she wont ever come back.

Comment

Had an all potatoes day till supper, then had potatoes with bone broth and leftover ground beef on top. Delish! Now I'm having my Friday night martini with hubby and making many typos as I write this. Amazing the effect of one good-sized martini!

Tomorrow should be potatoes until suppertime. Love the appetite suppression!